Thursday, April 26, 2007

How to Seduce a Woman (or at least an Englishwoman)

In knocking around the Internet looking for studies on men’s and women’s reading habits, I came across some interesting statistics. For instance:

According to the results of a survey published in a 2006 edition of the Telegraph, a majority of working women aged 35 to 59 would rather read a good book than have sex, shop, or sleep.

According to the Times, 85% of women questioned in a 2004 NOP survey said they are more likely to be seduced by a well-read man. (Why isn’t this finding better publicized?)

66% of people choose books on the basis of their covers, while 75% say they are influenced by book reviews, according to a 1999 National Survey of Reading Habits in the UK.

Nine out of ten British mothers say they read to their children at least once a week, with 70% saying they do so daily.

Also according to the Telegraph, the number of women reading romances in Britain has fallen off dramatically in the last ten years. 47% of women now say their favorite type of fiction is thrillers. Science fiction and romance were listed as their least favorite…which may or may not have something to do with their preferred leisure time activity as listed above.

And if you’re wondering why all these statistics are British, it’s because they seem to be the only ones asking.

About Me

A former university professor with an incurable case of wanderlust, I write the Sebastian St. Cyr Regency mystery series under the name of C.S. Harris and thrillers as one half of C.S. Graham. I’ve also written historical romances as Candice Proctor.